


The Azula Chronicles

by NanashiJones



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-02-15
Packaged: 2018-01-12 13:11:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1186720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanashiJones/pseuds/NanashiJones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Sozin's Comet, Mai has to confront an imprisoned and deranged Azula. Can Mai help in the former princess's recovery or is Azula merely planning something more devious than anyone imagined?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Picking Up The Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mai and Azula are locked in a room with each other after the events of Sozin's Comet. Can this possibly end well?
> 
> Set after the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this fic takes a different approach than the Dark Horse Comics.

The look on her face was the most disturbing of all to see. Once it had a horrible beauty to it- the kind of gaze that was carved from looking out with perfect conviction. Even at its worst, that face was something to behold. Then it all snapped like a puppet's strings and the lifeless marionette was all that was left.

Every now and then, there were reports of life though. They weren't encouraging.

Long days spent crying and even longer nights spent screaming kept even the rehabilitory guards nervous and on their toes. The hoarse croaks that emanated after had an equally unsettling effect. The bittersweet days of silence that followed left one shift requesting immediate transfer to he didn't care where so long as it was _away_.

It wasn't a month before the warden put out the special requests for isolation and privacy. The paperwork tore through the bureaucracy's normal red tape like lightning on a mission. If they could help it, nobody wanted to hear those screams. Especially, nobody wanted to hear them at night.

Transportation was a careful affair that involved a few apothecaries to ensure she remained sedate the whole trip to her new home. Once settled in, a new security detail took over that was disciplined and unsympathetic. Carefully screened and chosen for dispassionate compassion, they were a crew of fifteen men and women who would change out every six months with a similar crew so as not to get too attached.

She was cared for with machine-like precision. Never fed a crumb more than usual, never let an inch of freedom, she was under near-perfect surveillance. Not a watch got sloppy or tired because shifts were rigorously checked every hour. Nobody played pai-sho here. No special guests, no anything.

The screams continued though. This was a truth of her world. This was the truth until the first person who wasn't a part of regular security detail walked up the two checkpoint path one mild winter day.

She was alone, as was public knowledge, and information on her description and general temperament had been distributed among the ranks, but the crew weren't to let this be said. She and only she was to be cleared and sent up. The only uncertainty in this new addition was just how long she was to be behind closed doors with the prisoner.

While this was an issue to the guards on detail, it didn't trouble the first person to see the prisoner in nearly three months one bit. What did trouble her was what she needed to say, or how she was to go about earning the inmate's trust. She was host to a million little worrying questions that floated lethally in her mind, but never made it to her expression. Deadpan, she hiked upwards, mentally grumbling beneath the stress, _This all would be so much easier if she'd just learned to relax once and awhile._

"She's not eating," the woman had said. She remembered that.

"Not at all?"

"The moment the food is pushed through the grate, it's returned charred. We've lost a few plates too."

"Water?"

"Blasted into steam."

Then, silence had stretched in contemplation.

"How long?" the Fire Lord had asked.

"This marks the end of the second day. We believe she'll at least let the food and water in tomorrow, but not because she'll actually take them."

"Hm."

Another contemplative silence settled.

"Sir, to be frank, she'll be dead by two, maybe three more days time and I'd like to know if my group should be prepared to force-feed her."

His good eyebrow was up and a very slight smile touched the corner of his mouth. "That'd be something else…" he said softly to himself. He looked back into the woman's eyes. "I don't think we'll need that just yet General Yeng. I'll have to consider how to deal with this… Matter in private. I'll send an answer to you by morning."

General Yeng bowed slightly and took her leave.

Once the door clicked shut, Fire Lord Zuko slumped a little into his chair and looked past his desk, tired.

"You know this kind of thing was going to happen."

He sighed. "I actually thought it'd be before now. I can't believe it took her this long to get suspicious of the food."

The shape that'd mostly been unnoticed came away from the wall to sit at the edge of Zuko's ornate desk. She placed her hand on his supportively and squeezed. "What do you want to do then?"

"Force-feedings'd just make it worse. It was fine back when she just lay there, but now? Somebody could get hurt while trying to open her mouth. And I know I can't go. Bad enough I keep pumping Father for information about Mother, but this? Azula might just try to kill me again."

Quiet came again. The crackle of the twin lamps in the room spoke the hour and just how late it was getting.

"What if I went?" Mai said.

Zuko started at this, blinking. He looked up at Mai, concern etching his face. "Do you think that's smart? I was told she was muttering your name before she fought with me."

Mai sighed, folding her arms and looking nonplused. "Yeah, I heard that too, but we can't just let her die. Not the best way to kick off that age of 'peace and love,' you know?"

Nodding, Zuko glared balefully at his desk's surface. Pinching the bridge of his nose he muttered, "Why can't she just sulk like Father does?"

"Because she's Azula," Mai said. "She built her world on fear and intimidation and then Ty Lee and I broke that to save your butt…" Flashing a warm smile at Zuko, she put a hand on his shoulder. He placed his on hers, smiling up at her as well. "Looks like it broke her too."

He gave her hand an affectionate squeeze, the smile fading and his gaze going beyond his desk to wherever his sister taunted him from the mountains.

"It'd be dangerous," he said.

"I know."

"We could try sending a messenger hawk to Ty Lee, or maybe send for Aang and see if he could remove her bending like Father's…"

"Both of those would take too long," Mai said.

A grimace worked onto Zuko's face, folding his scar tissue at odd angles and wrinkles. "There's got to be a better way…"

"Maybe," Mai replied. "But you've got a lot on your mind and I don't see anybody else getting concerned about Azula quickly. Well, not unless she was her old crabby self and made them."

The grimace smoothed and his good eyebrow moved to show his worry and contemplation. His head tilted slightly down when he said, "I don't like this idea."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, neither do I," Mai said, reaching out to guide his gaze up to her. "But she used to sort-of be my friend, so maybe I can do something."

Twenty feet from a house set deep in the mountainside, made with steel bars in high windows, and a door looking as though it would intimidate a small army, Mai muttered, "Me and my big mouth."

Four guards patrolled around the house not looking tired or bored. They were alert, sharp and Mai saw that they could give even her a run if she tried a direct assault. The others she had checked with on the way up were just as focused and had watched her very closely. Maybe the stared because she was the first interesting thing that had happened to them all day. It was also possible she was the _most_ interesting thing that had happened to them in the two months they'd been watching Azula. Approaching the waiting General Yeng, Mai thought better. If they were watching Azula, _every_ day was interesting.

"Morning," General Yeng said.

"Hey," Mai said once she was in front of the commanding officer. Her eyes flicked to the door and bars, seeing if Azula was in a fire-spitting mood.

General Yeng caught the glance and made a wry smile. "Yeah, she's in there. We tried pushing some food through just in case, but…" The general held up the smoked remains of a cast iron plate. "I'm surprised she still has this much fire in her, but I'm not surprised, you know?"

"She's like that. When she gets something in her head, she's set on it," Mai replied, not even looking at the officer, just staring at the door with its many locks.

Nodding, General Yeng joined the girl's gaze. "I can see that."

Turning back, she looked Mai over critically seeing the specially styled hair, the heavy eye-liner and other marks of money and easy-living. Yet, woven around that façade was a stance that showed she was at-ready. Bored, spoiled, palace brat on the surface, but if you were actually watching her, you'd know to steer clear. Maybe this would be okay. Maybe, but General Yeng still had reservations.

"You sure about this?"

Mai rolled her eyes. "Look, can we just get it over with? If everybody keeps asking me, I'm going to forget I'm doing a favor for my boyfriend here and turn around."

Caught off-guard, this earned a chuckle from the hardened Professional Security Officer. "Fair enough," she said. "Helms One!"

A tallish, sharply muscled guard in helmet and free-moving armor came up. He stood at-ready near General Yeng. The general looked Mai over and said matter-of-factly, "Pat her down. Make sure she's unarmed."

Mai openly blanched at this.

"Sorry, ma'am, protocol," General Yeng said.

Stepping back, Mai said, "Hang on, hang on. I can do it myself." Glancing around, she added, "Do you have a bucket or bag or something?"

"Helms One" walked over to a table near the house and picked up a large tray. When he returned, he wordlessly raised it in front of Mai. Sighing, she began the process.

Five minutes later, though he didn't look burdened by the weight, Helms One grunted under the strain of maintaining the tray's height. General Yeng remained off to the side with an expression mixing impressed with disbelief. The tray, which was no small device, was piled with knives, shuriken, stilettos and even a pair of sharpened chopsticks while Mai continued patting herself down as though she was looking for an errant change purse.

"I think that's everything," she muttered.

"I'm sure it isn't, but I think you're as disarmed as we'll get you," General Yeng said with a smirk. "C'mon."

Mai followed behind, watching Helms One carry the tray delicately to the table set against a wall. He then took up his original position near the table and with his arms behind his back, where no one would see, he set to work massaging the insides of his wrists back to normal.

As Mai and General Yeng approached, two of the guards broke patrol to stand at either side of the massive door. General Yeng lifted a tray and jug of water from a table near the door and handed them to Mai who gave the lumps of bread and unidentifiable a sour expression.

"This door only unlocks from the outside," the general said removing a ring of keys from her belt. She began the slow process of working through the locks. "We won't keep it as tight when you're in there, so if anything goes wrong we can remove you as quickly as possible. You'll be monitored at all times to ensure your safety."

"Joy," Mai said watching the locks and bolts turn.

"Hey," General Yeng snapped. This caught the girl's attention and she looked the general square in the eye. "This isn't a joke. I know you have history with the prisoner that might help, but that does not change the fact that she is still incredibly dangerous. She may kill you. Do you understand?"

Mai looked up at the door, her expression unreadable. After a long moment, she said, "So what else is new?" She looked at the last unmoved gears. "Are you going to open the door or what?"

General Yeng stared, then shook her head. "Your funeral." She nodded to the two patrols who took a stance on either side of the door and fired into two specialized locks. There was a loud clang as internal mechanisms gave way to guided firebending, followed by the noise of several clicks and dropping metallic weights.

Moving behind one of the patrols, General Yeng picked up the bow and arrow that were beside the door and leveled it just over the guard's shoulder. She nodded to the other patrol, who grabbed at the door's handle and pulled slightly, opening just the scantest of cracks.

"You've a guest!" General Yeng bellowed. "Get in the corner with your hands where I can see them!"

At first, no response came from inside and Mai stood holding the food watching the tableau of still soldiers before her. Then, softly, the sound of shuffling movement came and some light clangs came from within. Once satisfied by what she saw, the general nodded again to the patrol holding the door and the portal opened enough to let Mai in with her food.

"You know how to get out if you want to," General Yeng said never taking her eyes from whatever waited inside. "It will take one minute from when you let me know to have the door open. Good luck."

The guards stepped back just far enough to let Mai pass, but never lowered their gaze, never let even the slightest relaxation creep into their positions. They trained on what was beyond the portal perfectly. Easing past, Mai stepped inside to darkness and the sound of the door swiftly slamming behind her followed by a handful of the locks moving into place. It took a minute for the noise of clanking gears to die away and Mai looked around the space that held probably the most dangerous person in the world.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the relative gloom of the area, she first saw that the house was bisected by a tight lattice-work grate. Covering the entire width of the prison, it was at once more beautiful than prison bars and at the same time more disturbing. At best, a person would get three slim fingers through each hole, which may be good for a lock pick, but there was no lock to pick in sight. Looking even closer, Mai spotted heavy bolts at corners and intervals around the grating, suggesting the prisoner wasn't going anywhere without considerable work and warning. Various spots on the grating looked charred and scorched from Azula's side.

As Mai walked closer to the grating she could feel hard, smooth rock under her feet. A quick glance down revealed the floor to be made of ceramic plates. Ceramic plates that were very fire-resistant, she wagered.

The two lone windows let the only light in the building and cast it into the prisoner's eyes, obscuring any visitors and making it harder for Azula to sneak about. Though they weren't deep, shadows marked the corners of the over-sized cell. In these shallow shades of gray Mai's former "friend" squatted: her arms and feet shackled to restrict her full range of movements, but with just enough give to let her wander the small confines mostly unencumbered.

Mai sat down a foot shy of the grating and looked at the hunched figure wearing the torn and battered prison uniform Mai knew too well thanks to her temporary incarceration. A less than welcome silence hung in the air as she tried to figure out what to say.

Before anticipation actually built her to a sweat, Mai heard the jingle of chains and she refocused on Azula, watching her carefully, her whole body tensing in an instant.

Azula brought her hands in slowly and carefully till the restraints stopped her just shy of hugging herself, and Mai couldn't tell whether this motion was deliberate or not. Still hunched in the corner, Azula turned her head, almost glancing over her shoulder. The eye that peeked was glassy and unfocused, waggling lazily about until it caught Mai in its journey. Once focused, the eye seemed to send a violent signal that caused all of Azula's body to shudder; she froze for a moment like a wild animal in the middle of torchlight. Then, just as quickly as she'd stopped, her head ducked back down and her breathing intensified.

Mai started breathing a bit harder too.

Azula moved her head again, but not in the uncaring wobble of before, instead twisting it quickly, making sure both eyes looked out. They squinted at Mai, trying to see through the tricky sunlight, then disappeared again.

Swallowing, Mai licked the inside of her mouth. Blinking, she felt sweat break out on her upper lip as she thought, _Well, I was expecting a lot… But I wasn't expecting **this**._

Azula then made a noise that caught all of Mai's attention. Shallow, gargling and phlegm-filled, it rattled deep in her throat to rise and meet her mouth just shy of her teeth and it gave Mai the creeps. After a decidedly longer time than she wanted, the noise died away (had Azula been clearing her throat?), and in something that sounded like a smoke-blackened version of her former voice, Azula said, "What are you doing here?"

Mai had essentially spent her entire life with a bored, deadpan expression, and it was because of this that Azula didn't pick up on the fact that her heart was hammering hard enough to leap out of Mai's chest. So instead of some blocked and starting over-emotional squeak, in a calm, almost-interested voice, Mai said, "I brought you breakfast. They said you weren't eating."

The cackle that burst from Azula was glass on glass and just as jagged. "How sweet. My old friend… _Mai_ brought me breakfast. I may just weep openly." Another manic shot of giggles went through her violently and Mai thought she heard sniffling.

"All right then," Mai said rising. "I'll leave these here and-"

" _Wait!_ " Azula hissed.

Mai stopped, her knees almost unbent.

Azula turned on the spot and Mai was able to get her first good look at her former friend. She first noticed the hair, which spilled all around Azula's head and was tousled at odd clumps, laying across her face with one strand stuck to her mouth. From there, she focused on the face: so deeply sunken, the eyes carried bruised circles scored deep in once porcelain features and her cheeks were more pronounced than ever. The cheeks cued Mai into just how bony the girl appeared. Where once lean muscle wrapped around sharp features, now it was more like something ghastly pushed out from underneath. Even her clothes, which, regardless of the fabric and cut, Azula once could make the peak of fashion by force of will alone, were nipped and torn at the edges as though she'd been picking at the sleeves and cuffs religiously. From those torn cuffs what showed of her body wasn't encouraging. Chewed nails and dirt-caked fingers and toes that were just as bony as her face stood out pale against the dark.

The overall effect of Azula's new visage slowed Mai's heart in sympathy. The old Azula may have been under there, but for the time being, this freaky bone girl with crazy eyes was driving the camelhorse now. Easing back to return to her sitting position, Mai raised a careful eyebrow. "What?" she asked.

Never quite rising, Azula scrabbled across the ground till the chains kept her face just shy of the grating. Up close her eyes seemed even worse- all want and need openly screaming through them. Yet, Mai didn't start back. She trusted the chains and grate would hold up just fine. For now.

"You're… Here." Azula croaked.

Mai blinked. "Yeah…"

" _Why?!_ "

Mai sighed and glanced off to the side, a bit bored. "To feed you, duh." She then looked back into the void of Azula's face.

" _No!_ " the creature growled through clenched teeth. "Whyyyyyy?"

Mai leveled her gaze. "Because it's this, or they force feed you, and Zuko doesn't want to lose people because you're being a drama queen."

Azula tilted her face down, eyes giggling through the top of her head right at Mai. "Oh, Zu-zu. Why isn't he here then?"

"You'd just try to kill him."

"True, true… But I could try to kill you too…"

"You haven't."

"Just wait," she said, baring her teeth in equal parts smile and challenge.

"I'm not afraid of you," Mai said.

Azula glared from behind the grate, then snapped forward straining against the chains, crying, " _Do you think I don't know how abundantly clear that is right now?!_ "

She seethed- a dog at the end of her leash, teeth bared and a growl in her throat. Then all energy dropped from her and she sagged back, her head tapping the ceramic beneath her. She blinked, her energy used for the day.

"I'll make a deal with little Zu-zu," she said from her dead position on the floor. The voice that came was distant and still ragged. "I'll keep eating so long as you keep coming. You don't even have to come all three meals. Watch me not care."

"Me?" Mai blinked.

"Bring Ty Lee. Bring the whole traitorous bunch of you." She sat up, positioning herself on the grounded spot where the chains came from under the tiling. Spreading her arms in display she added, "Watch the results of your actions."

Mai noticed the sliding tray at the bottom of the grate with the trick door just big enough to fit the plate and slight jug of water through. She put the contents there and popped them to the other side. Azula didn't move except for her eyes, which remained on Mai at all times.

"I'll see you tomorrow for lunch," Mai said. "I hate getting up this early and you know it."

She rose then and knocked the pre-approved rhythm on the door. The gears started up and she waited.

"Breakfast it is!" Azula jeered.

Mai turned as the locks worked. "Lunch. You can eat the one time I come, I don't care what you do after that."

The door opened and she could see General Yeng standing behind a patrol, both at the ready as they were before, as though they had never moved.

"You'll see!" Azula screeched from behind. "I'll have you! I'll have you all!"

Mai didn't look back, and merely sidestepped past the guards and into the suddenly harsh sunlight.


	2. Casting the Shell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Azula's talking again, what does Mai do with her?

This was the quiet time. The time between when she seemed to cook from the inside, boiling her emotion out in every way she could. The time felt spent and lethargic: a long distance runner would collapse and leave a room feeling the same way that the house in the mountain felt.

The guards at the bottom were glad of their position, which afforded the full extent of silence. They knew that the guards on top spoke of the noises she made when she was all used up. True silence was rare for them.

Tonight became one of those rarities. But there was a tang to the air they couldn't quite place. Despite the timing and overall feel to her spent energy, there was a doubt they couldn't calm, a thought they couldn't put to words. Somehow, deep within the house, she hummed with a little energy for the first time after spending all her noise.

General Yeng squinted past the torches at the door, wondering. Such a gut feeling, like a tigerwolf stared balefully from its cage at you, hung regularly these days. She wanted to make a report, she wanted to double her crew, she wanted quite a few things because in all the months she'd watched the prisoner, she'd never had the hair on the back of her neck go to end quite like this. Nor had it done so for long either.

She comforted herself in the knowledge that she was aware at least, and watching.

Inside her prison, Azula, former princess and would-be Fire Lord, watched as well. For the first time in a long time, she watched and she grinned.

"Soon," she whispered hoarsely. "Soon…"

Mai rubbed her arms in an effort to fight the chill winter brought to the balcony that looked out at the mountain where Azula sat under lock and key. From behind, she heard the soft click of the doors opening and closing. Late as it was, she didn't need to turn to know who was keeping her company now.

"You'll catch cold out here," Zuko said.

"Guess I'll have to depend on you for warmth then," she replied, looking over her shoulder with a dry smirk.

Zuko breathed a laugh and met her from behind, wrapping his arms just beneath her chest. Mai allowed this with a slow intertwining of her arms through his, feeling his heat and enjoying the moment. Moments like these seemed pretty okay. She could live with them. With Zuko's chin slightly against the side of her head he followed her gaze to see what she was staring at.

"Azula?" he said after a moment.

"Yeah," she said, sighing.

"How is she?"

"Crazy, as usual."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Aside from that."

Mai let her gaze fall into thought, her head angling down, just a little away from Zuko's chin. The act put his breath on her neck, which she found she was very interested in. The tension she felt against his body told her now wasn't the time to pursue that breath though.

"She's… I don't know, sort of like who she was, but not. One minute she's talking and just seems really out of it, then she's screaming and trying to fry me-"

Firm, firebender's muscle tensed about her in an instant.

"Relax," Mai said. "I don't get hit. She just firebends to do it. Half the time she can't even make the bars."

The muscles relaxed, but not to the point that would have made Mai comfortable. She didn't have to turn her gaze to know the scowl that was on Zuko's face. She did anyway, pirouetting slowly in his grip so that she faced him. This did little in acknowledgement as Zuko was downcast and looking at worrying futures.

"I still don't like this," he muttered. "I mean, how much longer is she going to keep dragging you up there? Too much could go wrong."

Sighing, Mai took hold of his chin and pointed him at her. "Hasn't yet."

"I know, but…"

"Look, you've got enough being the new Fire Lord. Just leave your crazy sister to me."

He smiled at her, but something in him closed his eyes and turned his face away again. When he opened them, he said, "I talked with Aang today about Azula."

Mai didn't have to work to get the idea to sink in, but she paid the due for considering its weight again. "And?" she said. "What's his take?"

"He didn't think it was a good idea," Zuko said with a tired shrug. "He said that he only took Ozai's bending away because that was what made him such a threat. With Azula only hurting herself, he didn't see any point in taking hers."

"Well, that stinks," Mai commented.

"Yeah," Zuko said, frowning. "But I agree with him. Much as I hate it, Aang shouldn't go around deciding who's good enough for bending and who isn't."

Mai cocked her head to the side, considering. She said, "It's a pretty dangerous trick, isn't it?"

Zuko nodded, smirking a bit. "Apparently, he has to meet the person on a spiritual level. When we thought of him being locked in the same spiritual room as Azula…"

The two shared a look of amusement at the thought of kind-hearted Aang spiritually talking Azula down from her mountain of crazy and chuckled a bit. Such seemed to be the truth of their lives lately: a whole world stood terminally perplexed of this new era of peace touted by its once would-be ruling nation. He rarely showed it, but Zuko was keenly aware of the weight he now carried. Moments like these, when he could just chuckle a little with Mai, were truly special to her. She would never let such a decadence of emotion show, but for her to know and Zuko to understand was good enough.

Mai leaned into Zuko's chest and smiled at the sound of his heart. "You know," she said. "This almost isn't terrible right here."

Zuko rested his cheek in her hair. "You're almost not terrible yourself."

"Jerk," she said, digging a few fingers into his side, making him wince with a smile.

For tonight, she'd enjoy this.

The next day put her in the opposite situation in every sense. Across from the same etched frown lines and furrowed features Azula had possessed for the past week or so, she noticed the little family resemblances between her and Zuko. Strange that she now was making out with some of those features. Albeit, the lattice-work bars obscured a little of the animation Mai saw, but she doubted that she was missing much of a show.

"How long have we been doing this?" Azula said flatly. Hunched over and still as she was, Mai had thought she'd imagined Azula speaking, but the look in the other girls' eyes did possess an expecting quality.

Pulling out of her reflection on dating within a circle of family and friends, Mai responded, "I don't know. A few weeks, I guess."

"Hm."

Azula returned to her mechanical eating, a process she performed slightly hunched over her tray with one knee pulled up to her face with the other leg tucked beneath it. If she'd been in her old state, the eating probably would have looked elegant and precise, but now? Mai thought she looked like a clunky clockwork doll just put together and still in need of some desperate tweaking. To her credit, the only noise that came from Azula was the slight clink of the metal chains that bound her. She did not smack or slurp or make other noise. She just ate, and scrutinized Mai forcefully with her eyes. 

"I almost wish it was Ty Lee. She'd get nervous about the silence, at least," Azula said after a mouthful of bread went down.

"She's not coming, I'm not asking for her, you're not getting her, so quit asking," Mai said, with an exasperated sigh.

"Oh please. You _must_ be curious about your aura by now, right?"

"I'm sure it's just as gray as ever," Mai said.

Azula's head snapped back and she laughed that glass hitting glass laugh of hers again. It made Mai's skin crawl, even if she didn't let it show.

"No, no," Azula said, setting down her tray and water tin. "No Ty Lee for me. Of course not. It's a big enough risk putting you in here with me isn't it?

"But who's at risk? I mean, really? Ty Lee was the deadliest thing with two hands. We both know that, even if the old bubblehead didn't." She smirked in a way that Mai recognized from the old days. "You? You're down to what? Three knives in here? Tsk tsk, Mai. That's all you're good for, you know. I knew a day when that would never happen."

Leaning forward, Azula smiled, and Mai was reminded of a sharkarana- all teeth.

"I knew _those_ days. I don't know these days. No Ty Lee, the food is horrible, Zuko… Fire Lord." Angling her head up, she looked at the ceiling. "I'm not dead am I? I'm a monster, so I figured I'd be running things down here…"

Mai rolled her eyes, having dealt with such rambling for weeks now and her internal patience had finally quit out. "Please. You're not a monster."

Azula's eyes snapped to Mai, her whole body tensing. "What?"

"You heard me," Mai said, her eyes narrowing.

The movement was almost instantaneous if someone didn't know that Azula could move that fast when she wanted. Only those who knew her would expect to find her just shy of the grating, teeth snapping, limbs straining at the edge of the chains in the time it took to blink. As close as she was, Mai could see her eyes boiling with inner fire.

Controlled and calm, Mai's only noticeable reaction was a small spasm that ensured a knife was at a ready spot on her wrist.

" _What_?" Azula hissed.

Sighing, Mai rose on her own time, adjust her skirts and dress as she did so until she was at eye-level with the Rabid Azula. She stepped right up to the grating, and she could feel Azula's breath cross the bars to crawl on her.

"Monsters don't break because their friends didn't bend to their every need. If you were a real monster, you would've just killed me back at that prison. No little temper tantrums your family's famous for."

Azula had gone from keening to merely straining. Her head was bent and she was glaring deeply through the top of her brow at Mai. Somehow, the words were cutting through whatever little world she'd been living in since Katara tied her up. It made sense, in a way. Having had a long time to think about them, Mai was able to deliver each word with the same force as one of her knives.

"You just cast me and Ty Lee aside like we were toys you didn't like any more. Little girls who don't know better do that. Not monsters. So quit giving yourself so much credit. You're no monster."

Mai turned on her heal and went to the door knocking the new code of the day. The gears on the other side set in motion.

" _What makes you think you know me so well_?!" Azula screamed.

Mai looked at Azula like she was just a little slow. "Because at one time I was your friend. I grew up with you Azula. It stinks you didn't grow up with the rest of us. You're still the same messed up version of Daddy's princess when we first met. You're just… Older."

The look on the other girl's face was more telling than any of the babble she'd done in all the weeks Mai had visited. Every day, Mai had sat quietly, listening to Azula ramble and stuff food in her mouth. Every day, Mai watched her old friend seem to pop up to taunt her and savage her for being a "traitor." Every day, Mai watched Azula seem to find more of her old self and she wondered how Azula, smart as she was, could realize so much, but always miss that most crucial piece that even Ty Lee had talked about once.

"She never got the green the rest of us got," Ty Lee had said.

"What?" Mai had asked while visiting the newly christened Kiyoshi warrior. Zuko had been on diplomatic business to the island and it seemed like a good opportunity to talk to someone else who knew Azula so well.

"The longer you're around, the more your aura picks up green. It shows you're learning and meeting other people and growing. Like a plant!" Ty Lee said, chipper.

"Ah," Mai said, wondering if she should have just forgone this meeting for a walk around the island's mountains. Hesitantly, "Even me?"

"Oh yeah!" Ty Lee exclaimed, moving into an easy handstand. "My aura's pink and healthy, and yours is… Well, gray, but we've mixed green in there and that always makes it better! You have to really squint to see it though…" The upside down girl did so in emphasis.

"And Azula never got this green?" Mai said trying to see the world from Ty Lee's daffy angle.

"Nope," Ty Lee said. "Same color as always. It's like no other colors ever mixed with hers." A sorrowful expression crossed the girl's otherwise smiling face. "How sad."

"Yeah," Mai noted, finally seeing Ty Lee's little worldview. "It's a tragedy."

"I'm glad you're at least getting some pink from Zuko now," Ty Lee said moving into a backbend.

"What?!"

As the gears hit the final release and Mai was able to leave, she reflected on Azula's expression mixing astonishment and disbelief. Interesting that it was the same look others gave Mai when she pinned them with a volley of well-placed knives. She'd have to tell Ty Lee that she may have got Azula to interact with at least one new color: the finally getting it color.

Once the door was secure, General Yeng walked her visitor to the side table near the entry path and went about returning Mai's weapons.

"How'd it go today?" the security woman asked.

Mai actually let a smile escape. "I think I gave her something to think about for a few days."

The general arched an eyebrow at the unexpected display of emotion. "Really. Anything I should worry about?"

Glancing back at the prison house, Mai shrugged. "I doubt it. Not unless she wants to try out-sulking somebody."

Yeng smirked at the girl, having warmed to her sarcasm. "I'll bear it in mind then. You have a nice day, ma'am."

"Yeah," Mai said folding her last throwing knife into the appropriate sleeve. "You too." She then set off down the path without looking back.

Deep in the prison house, Azula heard Mai go. She even heard the remarks she'd made to the General. Throughout this, she remained on the edge of her chains, body locked, face still, eyes lit from within.

After an hour, her breathing steadied from the ragged effort of supporting her and she released herself from the position she'd left her body. Walking to the center of her cage again, sat next to the mooring point of the chains. Legs crossed, she stared at her hands, flexing and unflexing them.

Night fell after a time and her last meal snuck in, but she ignored it.

Only when midnight rolled around and she heard the distant clang that indicated the hour did she look up, watching the moon roll light through her high cell windows. She blinked at the night light, seemingly confused by its presence.

Softly, in a hoarse whisper, she muttered something. Her face seemed to smooth then, some of the lines that had etched themselves into her features gone now.

She rose and picked up her tray of food, long since cold. Half of her water tin went down her throat while the other half went on her face and in her hair. Quietly, she rubbed her face a bit, wiping some of the weeks' accumulated grime from it. Then, she raked her fingers through her long hair, untangling split ends and organizing her wily mane to a degree. When that was done and her hair was more or less in order she ate a little bread and pushed the tray back to its place close to the grating with her foot.

Then, she curled up near the mooring and to all outside appearances, eased into sleep.

General Yeng let her foot slide easily from the table where she had propped it to push her back on her chair's legs till it balanced on just two. Arms uncrossed she approached the door and looked up at it. The two guards at either side of the patrol paid her no mind and moved around her.

This was the only thing she didn't like about this prison. No one could watch the prisoner properly. At best, you could scoot food inside and snatch a glance, but you could not watch her properly. You could only listen and become used to those noises. You'd learn when she was sulking, when she was sitting, when she was having silent fits by the rattle of her chains. Yeng was quite familiar with those chains having used them as her primary source of education for the past months. So tonight, when they moved in ways she'd never heard, despite Mai's assurance a welcome change was en route, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, even more alert than before.

Jaw set, she willed herself to see beyond the door. As expected, she saw only steel plates. Falling on her second option, when Personal Three passed her she touched his elbow. The guard stopped to glance at her.

"Be ready the next few days," General Yeng said. "Something's been happening lately and I don't like what I'm hearing tonight."

"We know, sir," Personal Three said, intelligence flashing in his eyes. "We can hear it too."

General Yeng smiled. She had a good troop. If anyone ever asked, they were the best detail in the nation. She patted the shoulder quietly. "In case someone didn't hear it. Pass it along?" she said.

Personal Three, Lieutenant Pon, nodded.

General Yeng let them return to their patrol and sat back at her chair. She tilted it again, so she was balancing again and looking at the door.

Her shift was up in two weeks time. Then, her opposite number would come in with his crew so they could take over and keep the prisoner from getting too familiar with the guard. Or, as it sometimes happened, to keep the guard from getting too familiar with the prisoner.

The overall effect of what was happening would not change, but the little things would. Those little things sometimes led to a prisoner's escape, so it made sense to trade off and let someone else do the work.

General Yeng chewed her lower lip. How would she explain those chains to someone who hadn't listened to them for so many weeks?

The torch by her desk flickered and she worried into the night of what might come.


	3. Moving Porcelain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula's actions behind bars start to rattle everyone's nerves and they all decide to start acting to see if she's trying to escape or just becoming a new kind of insane.

In an hour's time, the sun would set. A lone figure stood on the crevice of the mountain, watching this phenomenon. She stood like a fighter. She stood like someone who'd been worn down. She stood as though she'd never seen a sunset in her life. All speculation aside, what was certain was that she stood waiting.

Many hours earlier, legs pumping, Mai crested the lip of a similar crevice on the path and sighed. She was really tired of this ritual. Her calves were going to look creepy if she kept upholding the tentative bargain with Azula. As she gained ground to the house set deep in one of the many mountains of the Fire Nation, she saw that General Yeng was not her usual annoying, jocular self. In fact, she stood with her hands on her hips, just staring at Azula's prison house.

Mai, silent as ever, came up next to her. "Something wrong?" she asked.

Yeng's keen, brown eyes flicked to Mai and back at the house. "She's quiet," the guardswoman said.

Mai raised an eyebrow to this. "Isn't she like that sometimes?"

"She's quiet since you left last night."

That got Mai's attention. Since her incarceration, Azula had been slamming between manic screaming and tense quiet periods that carried equally unnerving qualities. When she screamed, it was bloody murder and anyone near her would sweat just being so close to something so angry and violent. When she was quiet, she stared out from her own world that seemed so broken and hollow that to look into her eyes was to venture to a corner of space and dangle at its edge.

The only predictability to these episodes were that they happened. She'd scream, or sulk, or do little strange things that gave the guards much to speculate what she could possibly be doing to make the noises. All the time, even when she "slept" the tension hung in the air- a tangible creature that menaced all who came about. Today though, now that she was actually paying attention to it, Mai realized that tension was gone. In its place sat an eerie quiet that reminded Mai of how Zuko described sailing through a storm and finding the peaceful center where chaos was once the only reality.

"Wait, she's been quiet the _whole_ night?" Mai asked.

Yeng nodded. Puzzlement, curiosity and worry all camped out on her vigilant face.

"Huh. Will you let me go in with all my weapons _now_?"

A wry twist at the end of one side of her mouth blossomed through the general's concern. "Believe me, I'm tempted to, but protocol stands until I have more to go on than my gut." Glancing at Mai, she added. "Go on, you and Helms One know the drill by now."

Mai rolled her eyes and went about the process of disarming. Helms One stood at the table and watched her, having convinced his superior that he didn't need to hold the tray with this one to assure she was relieved of her weapons.

Once the usual time passed, Yeng and Mai walked to the door and Yeng picked up the food that was waiting at the usual side table. Just as she was about to start unlocking the contraption, a muffled cough came from within. Everyone froze.

Deep behind the door, Azula said, "No, I don't think I'll be needing her company today."

Muffled as it was, everyone heard, but didn't know how to react.

Yeng raised an eyebrow at Mai, who only shrugged, confused as the general. Like any good public servant, Yeng opted to ensure she understood this correctly and thoroughly. "You don't want to see your visitor today? Is that right?"

An exasperated noise, very soft, at least made it out. "Yes, I do not-" Then, a pause. "No, wait, never mind." Then in an almost overly-cheerful tone: "Send her in."

Carefully, Yeng went about turning the locks, flipping the gears and opening the massive door. Once the pair of sentries had firebended the last lock, Yeng handed the food to Mai and whispered, "I'm not really going to set any locks, just turn some gears. Anything funny happens, get out. We'll cover you. Understand."

Mai's eyes hardened a fraction, glancing at the door before returning to their usual bored detachment. She nodded, like making a casual decision, and accepted the food. Guarded severely on either side, she entered and heard the door slam with an added effort of force. As far as she could tell, the normal, quick gears slammed into place, but she couldn't swear to it.

Today, Azula sat in the center of the room and looked… Surprisingly well kempt. Her hair was actually in an attempt of order and some of the lines on her face were less severe. She still blinked too much, and seemed uncomfortable, shifting her shoulders where she sat, but she seemed overall cooler. Mai was now very attentive as she pushed the food through the small door.

"No need to sit," Azula said once her lunch was on her side. "This won't be very long."

She watched Mai in a strange way. If Mai had to guess, it was because she was worried about how she was going to say something. Like she actually cared how Mai was going to take it.

Mai wondered if it was too late to ask Azula to scream and try and burn her. Instead, she stood, waiting, the picture of patience and calm.

Azula in turn took a breath, seemed to consider an idea and opted to push air out instead. She turned her head down and closed her eyes, a puzzled expression working her lips. Then, with one eyebrow cocked inquisitively, she angled her head back up to look directly at Mai, her face a passive, distant thing.

"Mai…" she said. "Where is my father?"

Mai blinked.

The tone of Azula's voice was different in a very jarring way. It occurred to Mai that though she had known who Azula really was her whole life, she expected that she had at least seen the _real_ girl beneath the control once or twice. Sitting before her now, Mai had to guess she'd never been so lucky and here, across a steel-cage fence, was the real Azula.

The voice carried a little curiousness, but it was mostly flat, similar to Mai's own bored sarcasm, but without the actual boredom. Her face and posture too hinted that she could shift topics just as easily to the weather, politics in Ba Sing Se, or the murder of a thousand troops with equal passion. Taking in all these details so quickly, Mai wondered if statues would appear like this if they lived.

Even though jarred, Mai still understood what was at stake and who she was talking to, personal revelations or not. "Why do you want to know?"

Azula's face clouded at this and the once solemn creature disappeared to be replaced by her more familiar cracked visage, though the shifts were quite subtle. She leaned back against her hands, cheekily smiling up at Mai. Her eyes were overly cool rather than a true relaxed.

"Because I want to congratulate him on doing such a fine job of raising me, of course," she said with a cocky grin. "I'm such a cornerstone of the world now- Father has to be proud." Her eye twitched on the last word.

Mai raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"You do know you're locked up tighter than a fly in a spiderant's web, right?"

Azula blinked and glanced down at her chains, regarding them as though she was a tired mother who had just spilled a little food on her shirt.

"Oh yes. I knew there was a problem. Let's see…" She raised a shackled arm to her face and tapped a short fingernail against her teeth in contemplation. "A message perhaps?"

"If you want a courier service, ask your guards," Mai said, folding her arms.

Azula sat forward, letting her arms flop into her lap, gazing balefully at Mai. She suddenly seemed very old and very tired.

"Mai…" she said, that original, distant face coming to play again. She closed her eyes and hung her head. In what seemed a low growl, she said, "Just tell me where he is so I'll know which wall to spit on."

Silence hung, and Azula seemed to watch her chest rise and fall.

"He's in the National Prison. You know, the tower where you helped put Iroh," Mai said.

Azula's head snapped up at the information and she saw Mai still imperious in her stance, arms folded, but her eyes were a touch softer now. Beyond that, Mai gave nothing away.

"Are we done here?" Mai asked.

Blinking slowly, like a reptile, Azula nodded. "Yes," she said. After a moment's thought, she added, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Mai shot ignoring the sudden pleasantry. She then turned and started to hammer on the door. "All right, open up! I've had my fill of crazy for the day."

Yeng had the door opened without hesitation and looked at her prisoner, whom she'd seen over the shoulder of Mai and through the scant sendings of food and water for so many weeks. Like the sounds, she'd memorized the little things about Azula, once proud princess of the Fire Nation, and here she saw someone who had never sat in the cell before. The crazed face, the lined features all gone to show something just this side of distant, gazing out over Mai's shoulder as she left.

Azula was looking at Yeng, who held a perfect stance with her bow. She was looking directly at Yeng, and she wanted the general to know it. Then, as the door eased shut on perfect hinges and shadows cast back onto that hollow, uneasing face, Azula winked. She winked just for Yeng. When the door closed, she wished she had authority to just shoot the girl.

Mai left without a word, opting to just rearm herself and walk away. Normally, Yeng would try to wheedle some kind of information from the girl- impressions, thoughts, ideas on what Azula would try, but having heard the exchange, she let the girl leave in silence.

An hour passed and Mai was well in the distance when a rhythmic twang of the chains from inside the house began. Yeng raised an eyebrow at the house, then exchanged the look with Personal Three, Lieutenant Pon. The guard shrugged, shaking his head. In a way, this kind of noise was comforting over the eerie silence of the night before, but Yeng still didn't like it.

Walking over casually, she halted Pon and Personal Two in their patrol. With a few simple hand gestures, she indicated her desire to see in the window and the guards acknowledged, providing a boost point where Yeng could climb and stand on them. Barely a grunt of air had her at their shoulders, and a careful rise allowed Yeng to climb up to the barred window silently.

Peeking over the lip of the window, she saw the darkened wall of the other side and with a little angling work she saw the prisoner... Who sat where she had last, tugging repeatedly on the chain, in a slow, rhythmic jerk. Eyes blankly ahead, body hunched, Azula hadn't moved from when Yeng had seen her last- she merely had taken to snapping the chain tight across her chest with her right arm.

Easing back over the lip, Yeng frowned, then nodded to her support below who let her come down gracefully. Instances like this were when she hated her job. Somewhere between her gut instincts and the bland reality was a fearful truth she could not offer to any of her superiors. She knew of the Fire Lord's desires to rehabilitate his sister, but could not disagree with him more. In Yeng's opinion, sometimes it was best to put a wolfhound down before it became rabid.

Yeng returned to her desk just beyond the check table to file her weekly report of what occurred during Mai's visit and her impressions. After much consideration, she decided to add her suspicions that the prisoner was planning something. At the least, she would be dismissed and at best, the Fire Lord would hear her thoughts. If anything, he had always been good for that.

THUNK!

Zuko knocked.

THUNK!

"Yeah?"

"It's me."

Silence.

THUNK!

"Come in."

As Zuko entered Mai's chambers that he'd prepared for her at the palace, he made sure to duck well out of the way of her flying wrath. He was wearing his casual diplomat's robes, where his hair was in the usual ceremonial topknot, but he was bereft the imposing chest and shoulder guards. A deep red gi with royal designs riding the seams were all that marked his authority. He was usually in such an outfit these day in trying to demonstrate a new Fire Nation for a new world.

THUNK!

"You know, you don't need to do that," Mai said calmly.

"I know," Zuko said, easing over to her side to see what was her target near the door. "Force of habit with things flying at me, I guess."

She smirked a little at him and seemingly just twitched her hand again.

THUNK! D-D-TUNK!

Four more blades sunk in quick succession into an old painting of an imperious-looking former Fire Lord Ozai.

Raising his good eyebrow, Zuko commented, "You know, if he hadn't done such a rotten job of being a father, I'd be offended."

"Yeah, well, he deserves it. I wouldn't be crazy sitter if he'd hugged you two once in a while."

Zuko made a face while Mai went over to her makeshift target to remove an impressive collection of short daggers. "I don't think I could ever see my father hugging anyone."

Mai shrugged. "He had to have hugged your mom at some point." She set about the task of wiggling the knives free of the scored wood and smiled at the fact that she knew Zuko was blushing furiously.

"Uhm. Can we change the subject? I don't need to be thinking about this," Zuko said after clearing his throat.

"Sure," Mai said, holding the last knife in her hand. She walked over to Zuko and wrapped her arms around his waist. "We can talk about this." Leaning in and up and she met Zuko's lips with hers and held him tight.

When they parted after a comfortable time, Zuko smiled. "Mm," he said. "Too bad you're not on my diplomatic council. Um, being such a good conversationalist and all."

Mai shook her head and walked across the room to sit on the usual long couch they occupied. "Leave the jokes to your Uncle and Toph. Now, come hold me. I don't want to think about your family any more than you do right now. Especially your sister."

Zuko smiled and did as requested, positioning himself behind her so she could rest her head just under his chin. "How was she today, anyway?"

Mai sighed, rolling her eyes. Zuko could sometimes be a little dense, even when you told him outright. Still, she knew she ought to keep the Fire Lord abreast of his potentially dangerous prisoner.

"I think… I think I messed her up when I told her she wasn't as great as she thought she was. Yeng said she was quiet all night when I showed up. No crazy mumbling or anything."

"Wait, she listened?" Zuko's chest rumbled his voice cozily against her back.

Mai shrugged. "What can I say? I get to her."

"So… Quiet. Huh."

"Yeah. She almost didn't see me too. Then she changed her mind and…" Mai stiffened a bit as her mind went over the conversation.

"What? What is it?"

"Zuko… Does Azula know where she is?"

Blinking, Zuko took a second to process the question. "What do you mean?"

Turning in her relaxation, Mai propped herself atop Zuko, looking him in the eye. "I _mean_ ," she said. "Does your sister know where in the Fire Nation she is exactly?"

"No," Zuko said, his tone neutral.

"She asked where your dad was…" Mai's gaze went away from her couch-mate, her voice dropping considerably. "She asked so she would know which wall to spit on…

"Zuko!" she said, returning to his now concerned face. "I forgot that and Yeng was talking about how she'd been weird before that night."

Zuko's eyes narrowed.

Mai looked at him levelly. "I think she's going to try to break out tonight."

Zuko remembered the last report from General Yeng that noted a change in Azula's behavior. The change sounded encouraging, as though his sister would be ready to speak with one of the palace healers and work toward getting better. There had been some concerns, but Yeng admitted she was unsure, so Zuko could only respond that he supported her position and would help her once she was sure.

He should have known better. He should have known! "Stupid!" he hissed, looking away from Mai.

"What? Hey!" Mai said, twisting her head at him.

"No, no, me." He eased her off of him and started toward the door.

Mai hopped over the back of the couch to follow. "Where are you going?"

"I'm getting a messenger hawk to the facilities she's at. If I don't hear back by morning, I'm sending a guard force."

"I'm going with them then," Mai said as they half-ran down the hallway to the messenger's wing.

Zuko looked at her, concern etching into even his scar. He sighed and resigned himself to the reality of what was going on.

"-And would advise that an extra guard count be sent to aid with monitoring of the prisoner. Recognize this as potential over-cautionary measure, but request will be filed as per your concerns on the matter…"

Azula chomped down on her apple, juices dribbling down her chin as she perused General Yeng's letter to Zuko.

"Very good," Azula said, patting the prone general's head. "You were just smart enough to be stupid."

Yeng fumed from beneath Azula.

"Shame," the former prisoner said. "If only you hadn't written this, I might, just might, not feel the need to do this. Or did I decide to leave before you wrote this…?" She turned her head to the sky, seeming to consider the possibility. Her fingers eased away from her apple to come beneath the scroll of paper to light it. The scroll's edges crisped, releasing fumes of burnt parchment to the air.

"No matter!" Azula said with a cock of her head and a flourish of the burning report. "It's nice to be out of shackles and chain, you know? And to have handled all these guards…" She gestured to the bodies of Yeng's unconscious unit that surrounded the area where Azula sat atop the general. All of them gurgled in varying ways while attempting to breath.

Azula sat up a little straighter, like a proud student taking praise in class. "I beat them all by myself no less!"

Leaning down, she spoke in a conspiratorial whisper to Yeng. "After being defeated by… _Zuko_ , I thought I'd lost my touch. It's nice to know I haven't lost all of my skill." She winked cheerfully at her prisoner.

Yeng bucked suddenly, writhing her body in violent ways against the chains that held her, and Azula merely let herself pop in the air briefly before crashing back to her original spot on Yeng's rear. The air left the general in a whoosh, her bruised ribs threatening to crack.

"You're not… Terribly bright are you?" Azula asked conversationally.

"Let… Me up. I'll show you bright then…" Yeng growled.

"Ugh. Such a display. Take it from someone who used to be heavily involved in military matters: keep. Your. Temper." With each word she tapped the almost crisped scroll on Yeng's head, the general wincing at the embers that flecked onto her brow. Once tips of Yeng's hair had caught flame, Azula tossed the burning scroll away. She then rose, stretching as though she were about to go for a run. "It will only bring you more grief. Trust me. I'm a people person."

Once she'd finished stretching, she watched Yeng roll on her hair tips, smothering the fire. The general didn't shriek or scream, which seemed to interest Azula in a way. Head cocked, she walked round the woman, who lay on her back, panting slightly from pain and the exertion. Finally, Azula squatted down and brought her face close to Yeng's panting one.

"As someone who's really gotten to know me over the past few months, I should tell you I value your opinion to a certain extent on personal matters," Azula said in a voice that was just shy of gregarious. To Yeng, in that shy area was a hollow quality that was mimicked in the madwoman's eyes. She paused, considering her thoughts, then said, "So understand that I will take your answer quite seriously if I were to ask you a personal question."

After a silence where Yeng thought the girl had forgotten she'd been talking, Azula cocked her head, then asked, "Do you think I'm a monster?"

Yeng panted for what felt like a long time. Azula watched her like she had all the time in the world.

"You're… _Crazy_ ," Yeng snarled with a gasp.

Azula raised with a shrug. "Well it's something. Thank you."

Then she fell on Yeng's right knee with her elbow and all her weight.

A sickening crunch lightly echoed in the cavern. It paled in comparison to the scream Yeng loosed. The pain was excruciating. Yeng somehow remained conscious despite the hot electricity that rattled her every nerve.

"I know it may seem odd now," Azula said, dusting herself off as she got up. "But look at it this way: if you don't bleed to death internally, when my brother sends a guard to check on you in the morning because Mai got smart or your correspondence is missed, you might get a medal for trying to stop me. At the very least, you'll have a better excuse than 'she just got away.'"

Azula went down on one knee next to Yeng, who seethed, breathing manically through her nose. "So really," she said. "You'll be thanking me later." She patted Yeng's cheek maternally.

"You're a wild dograt," Yeng hissed through gritted teeth. "You're wild and need to be put down."

Azula's face remained bland.

"Now that would be too easy for everyone, wouldn't it?" she said.

Azula then rose and set about propping up the guards so that from a spyglass or casual looker's perspective, they'd appear at post. She knew that at best, they'd all appear at ease which would be a little suspicious, but it may buy her some time. Once that task was done, she compared herself to a few guards and when satisfied, stripped the appropriate ones for new maroon pants (too large in the waist), a brown/red shirt with hood (baggy, but adjustable), and scuffed, black boots (tight across the width, but a good fit otherwise). She didn't bother with their armor and threw one of the guards in the cell house, so no one would question why someone was on duty in just their underwear.

All of this consumed a potentially problematic hour, but moving at a steady, purposeful pace, Azula looked cheerful, if a bit sweaty, by the end. She hummed while putting on her new boots. Yeng sat in her desk's chair nearby, her right leg dangling awkwardly where her knee had been pulped. She glared murder at the girl underneath her sweat.

"The hood is a nice touch," Azula commented, tying laces. "Keep me from recognizing any of the underlings when they fed me, right?"

"You'll be caught," Yeng said.

"No doubt," Azula said, cinching the last knot. She turned to look in a manner that was almost friendly to Yeng. "Which is why I must be moving. Try and rest. The Fire Nation needs more like you."

She seemed to consider something, then clapped Yeng on the arm.

"Yes," she said, rising and straightening her awkward clothes. "That's the thing you do." To Yeng she added, "Good-bye general."

From her spot at her desk, Yeng panted from the pain, watching Azula practically stroll down the path and off the site. Yeng closed her eyes once the girl was gone. She knew that her crew was useless, tied and gagged as they were. When they'd wake, they'd find themselves secured to their posts by their own restraints and possibly as bad if not worse off than Yeng herself. Biting down on her lip, the general of the Fire Nation's first protective security detail set to work banging her hands against the chain.

In time, she knew she'd pass out from the pain in her leg, but when she woke, she might be ready to dislocate her thumb and pull free from the chains. For now, the best her and any of her crew could do was recover in inches. Then, they would try to get free and warn the Fire Nation that the fallen princess had escaped and could very well be coming home.

Azula waited, watching the sun dip into the horizon and frowned as she hit the last lip of the slope she'd been scaling down. Despite her homeland being an island state, it was common knowledge that the Fire Nation was not so _small_ an island state. She should not have come across a port of call after just one mountain, yet here she stood hidden by crags near one now.

Her head fell off her neck to look around. "So soon…" she muttered. Head swinging, she blinked too much at her surroundings. Then she noticed who was coming and going on the port: very few people.

Guards made in twos brought from transport barges single individuals in basic, unremarkable, red shirt and tattered pants who shuffled much as Azula used to about her cell. Unaccompanied people with hoods down walked casually back on a large ship that looked like one of the basic transports between islands. A man wearing a naval crewman's uniform stood near the hatch of the transport's docking entrance looking bored and attentive.

Rolling over, Azula's face tickled at one side with a smile as she gazed at slowly appearing stars. "Oh Zu-zu…" she said softly to herself. "Couldn't leave me in prison, could you?" Returning to her belly, she glanced around again, then nodded. "A rehabilitation island. Oh, how nice."

Pulling the knife she'd found in Yeng's kit from her boot, Azula sat up and examined herself in the knife's blade, sighing. She made faces at her reflection, rubbing her sallow cheeks and sunken eyes and pursing her lips. "Hmm," she said to the reflection. With a careful angling of the blade, she picked with broken nails at a side of her hair that looked respectable just above her chin and cut a nick into the black mass. Then, bringing the blade around, she matched it to the notch, then swiped hard and determinedly. The long mass of her hair pooled on the ground behind her.

Once again she brought the knife up and examined herself with a slight frown.

"Well… It will have to do for now," she said. She returned the knife to her boot and flipped her hood up in a casual way, as though someone had spent a long day on their feet and forgotten they'd left it up.

Picking her way down the slope, she found a path and waited until a group with broken clutches of young guards walked by. She mixed in, laughing softly at a joke and when someone looked at her, she smiled, and they, tired in similar ways it seemed, smiled back. She hit the dock without incident, walked past the crewman on duty at the entrance of the departing transport and disappeared into the passengers.


	4. Broken Pieces Made Hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula has broken loose from her holdings. She has demands.

As she tried to walk through the streets, she was bumped from all sides with a sea of faces looking back at her. Normally, she could dodge between them easily, but today was so crowded…

A back slammed her and she frowned. "Ex- _cuse_ me," she said moving past.

Someone almost trod her shoe. "Hey!" she snapped.

Then, someone's hand shot out to grab her. "Now what-"

Her blood ran cold.

Up from the hand grew the arm, body and face of Azula. Face twisted in a triumphant grin, her eyes burned like hot embers.

"Did you think you could hide?" the mad girl growled.

She tugged on her wrist, but the grip was iron-clad.

"Did you think you could hide from _me_?!"

Sweat beaded her brow and tears, _tears_ , were actually jumping to her eyes. "Let… Let me go!" she hissed.

Azula smiled inhumanly. "Did you think you could hide from **me**?!" she bellowed, fire spilling from her mouth.

"Somebody- Somebody help!" she cried out.

She turned to the faces and met a sea of Azula.

"Did you think you could hide from _**ME**_?!"

Mai woke in her bed, grabbing at her wrist in her sleep and trying to get "Azula" off. Her breath came heavy, her heart threatened to break from her chest and her mouth was a thin line. Then, reality settled, revealing her chambers at the palace. She was in her own bed, guarded by a night sentry who was alert and well-trained. She was safe. For now.

After a few deep breaths, her heart found its original rhythm. Moving her lips into a concerned frown, she let her wrist go and put a hand to one eye. She rubbed it, eyes closed, and brought her knees up where she could rest her head against them.

Azula needed to be found soon. Two nights plagued with her face were two nights too many.

Not too far away from where Mai worked against her subconscious's terror, Ozai lay against his cell wall, picking apart his ration of bread and tossing the crumbs on his plate. Unlike his daughter, whose visage snuck through the halls of the Fire Nation palace, there was no madness to his eyes; merely dejection. None, more than he, had been brought so low by his defeat on the day of Sozin's Comet. He had stood at the cusp of victory and to be ruler of the world with a daughter leading his Nation, yet he was held prisoner by his own son.

A son, who by all accounts had been weaker, had ascended to the throne and tossed him into a well, never to be seen again. Less the skilled, less the wise, more inclined to bleed his heart out like the soft-hearted fool Iroh… Such information made Ozai wonder if he were in fact dreaming. One day he would awaken, the world at his feet and reshaped in his image of the glorious Fire Nation. Until then, he woke to his truth- a cell just wide enough to keep his legs from cramping up and food that he wouldn't have offered a peasant. All his troubles because of the Avatar and Zuko.

When Zuko came and demanded, _demanded_ , like he truly was the Fire Lord for Ursa's location, Ozai merely snorted in contempt. He'd rot for one hundred lifetimes before he'd help.

Just beyond the door to his cell, Ozai heard the guard make a noise. Tilting his head up toward the sound, he glared. Had the man actually been eating on the job? It sounded like he had choked on some food.

Disgusting. That's what had happened to his kingdom- fallen into filth.

The door's locks worked around and the corridor's light spilled into his cell.

Ozai's gaze stayed on the dismantling of his bread. "If you're looking for help on chewing your food, I suggest you start with the third cell over," the prisoner drawled. "He makes a dreadful racket every time his rations come around."

"Really? He sounds like temple cricket-mice to me, but my ears have gone bad since last we met."

The voice froze Ozai mid action. Turning his head slowly, his eyes fell on the body of the guard being dragged into his cell by a girl who he knew immediately.

"Azula?" Ozai said, his voice full of wonder and disbelief.

"Oh, Father, you _do_ recognize me. How wonderful," she said.

She brought the guard in the cell further and kicked the door shut quietly. As she lay the heap of man against the wall, Ozai stared at his daughter.

She had hacked her hair off at the nape of her neck, which had confused him at first as it framed her face differently. Next to that, she wore some hooded peasant's garb, which hung loose on a frame that was thinner than his own. Her sharp features were even more accented in the low light of his cell, casting hard shadows across her face as she turned. Then, there was something about her eyes…

Azula finished propping the guard and pulled a stool over to Ozai's cell door. She sat and smiled, her hands on her knees.

Ozai blinked, his hand hovering in the bread.

"What?" Azula asked. "No hello for your darling, baby girl?"

The words snapped Ozai from his reverie. Dropping the bread he went to the cage, gripping it firmly. "Azula!" he said, a glint popping into his eye.

"Yes, I… Believe we covered this," Azula said, raising an eyebrow.

"You must free me! Before any of the other guards come!"

Eyebrow still raised, Azula cocked her head to one side as if examining something. "Really. Why is that?"

Ozai blinked, his face darkening. "Azula, this is no time for games. Get the keys and release me so that we may escape!"

His daughter looked at him calmly and the look in her eyes became more prominent than ever. For reasons he could not identify, the look clenched Ozai's stomach and made him sweat.

"No," she said.

"No?" Ozai said.

"No."

"Azula… _What is the meaning of this?!_ " he roared, rising up to tower over her. A tension hung in the air as Ozai waited.

Azula looked calmly up at her father, rose slightly so that she was closer to his heaving chest and reached through the bars. She then snapped her grip on his long goatee and yanked, slamming Ozai's forehead forcibly into the bars.

He tipped back, hacking in the back of his throat curses and grunts of pain as he covered his face.

Azula returned to her relaxed position on her stool. "There, that's better," she said. After watching her father for a moment, she added, "You know, you should see about trimming that… It's a bad tactical maneuver."

Groping for control, Ozai rose on one arm, glaring through his fingers at his daughter. Blood trickled over one eye, and he panted in pain. As he gasped, he watched Azula cross from disconnected interest to sudden disgust at what she saw.

"Look at you," she snarled. "The great Ozai, Phoenix King is what he said! Isn't that right, Father? _Isn't it_?!"

Ozai spat the blood that had trickled into his mouth at her feet.

A dead moment hung in the air, then Azula glanced down at the wet spot, broken from her sudden rage in contemplation. Her voice came softer, from a strange place with a tone Ozai had never heard her use before.

"You're no King, are you?" Her voice was just above a mumble. "You're just a broken thing. Broken like me. Only you're not broken, you're just… Here."

When she looked up and sank her gaze into her father's, Ozai's rage dissipated as quickly as hers, for he saw the face of his daughter's insanity. Her eyes still burned with the same determination and willfulness that he had helped kindle in her like a small ember, but instead of confidence and awareness was a chilling emptiness. Just enough of her surface remained so that she would pass inspection for a normal girl, but when you knew Azula as Ozai did, you saw what had disappeared. Ozai's best tool had been pummeled to near uselessness in the rain.

She blinked too much and said, "Why Father? Why did you cast me aside? What did I do to be… Treated like Zuko?" Her voice was suddenly without emotion.

Ozai realized that he didn't want the creature who had once been his daughter to open the cell anymore.

Stepping up to the bars, she leaned against them and hung loosely.

"We were going to be royalty of all, Father," she whispered. "Yet, here we are. A broken princess and felled king of creation."

Watching her carefully, and moving slowly, Ozai moved back from the bars so he could angle himself from a corner if she flared up.

"I don't understand why…" Looking up, she craned her neck to one side. She blinked like a lizard. "I. Don't. Understand." She tapped her head against a bar with each word.

"Azula…" Ozai said, trying to regain some control.

"Yes, Father?" she said, tilting her head to one side again and looking at him with her empty gaze.

"Why don't you let me out, then I could help you understand," he said. "We could see where we went wrong. We can put it all back how it should be. We can fight back and reclaim our birthrights! You, by my side… Every step of the way!" The speech was short, but it sounded strong in Ozai's ears.

Azula looked at Ozai, and the strength evaporated in her cold and cruel gaze.

"You failed Father. And since you failed, as I have been your servant, your right arm, your humble and perfect princess- I failed as well!"

She rose and went to the guard were she took his keys and went to the lock.

" _We_ will not be doing anything. _You_ will rot and _I_ will fix this mess you created."

Ozai's eyes flicked to the lock she was opening and watched with a mixture of excitement and terror as the door swung in. "What… What are you doing?"

"Fixing the mess…" she said, fire boiling at her hands. "We will duel an Agni Kai, Father. Defend yourself!"

With a snap of her arm, her fist shot out and blue flame filled the chamber.

Zuko blinked at the fire, running his right finger across his left knuckles. The tea he had in front of him was supposed to be calming, but after half an hour the only thing that calmed was his stomach. Hunched forward, he was barely using the vast chair he occupied.

"Couldn't sleep either?" said a soft voice from behind him.

He sighed. "Azula."

Mai entered the room and went to rest against the back of Zuko's chair. "Bad dreams or just general worry?"

One corner of his mouth bent into an efficient frown. "General worry. Her being out is not a good thing."

"Tell me about it," Mai said, coming around the chair to sit on the armrest. "Nobody's been sleeping since she broke out. I'm gonna get bags under my eyes at this rate."

Zuko smirked a little.

Mai arched an eyebrow at him. "You say one word and I'll nail you to the ceiling."

"Uh, no… Nothing to say here," he said, badly hiding his amusement.

Mai snorted, and changed the subject. "How's Yeng? Her leg looked pretty bad back there."

Zuko's smile went down, and he lay back against the chair, thoughtful now. "She's all right. Well, as all right as you can be when your knee's been crushed. The doctors think she'll be using a cane for the rest of her life. I'm trying to set up a good clerk job for her in the military when she's out."

"Oh goody, she can chew people out from behind a desk."

"Hey," Zuko said, looking up at her. "She gave her all and then some. It's the least I can do in return."

"Don't get your royal jammies in a knot," Mai said. "I'm just…" She sighed.

"Yeah. Me too."

They sat in silence, watching the fire dance across the logs.

"Come on," Mai said with a sigh. "I'll help you read reports, that should put us in a nice, deep sleep."

Zuko chuckled, rising with a shove of his arms. He met Mai near the door to the sitting room where he wrapped an arm around her waist as they walked out. "I knew I dated you for a reason."

"Because I'd kick your butt if you ever dumped me again," Mai said without looking at him.

Smiling again, Zuko hugged her and released so they could walk unencumbered down the hall.

After a few turns, they were at his Reports office- a second home next to his own chambers. Quiet and set back from the rest of the palace, Zuko did most of his governing and state signing duties from this room. No guards stood posted as he requested at least _some_ degree of privacy.

"Here," Zuko said, stepping forward to clutch the handle.

The door started swinging in and Mai smiled a little at him. "Such a gentleman."

"I know," said a steel voice from in the room. "He's always been good at the things that don't matter."

Mai and Zuko froze for a split second as they took in the sight of Azula with her feet up on the desk, reading a scroll.

Zuko moved first, lighting the end of his fist in a threat with Mai just behind him, brandishing three of her good knives.

Azula didn't even flinch. "Mai could do it maybe, but you… Not a good idea to torch official documents Zu-zu."

The two at the door held their stances. "What are you doing here Azula?" Zuko said, his voice firm and full of command.

The tone seemed to catch more of Azula's attention than the words. "Ooo," she said. "Look who sounds like he's in charge now." She tilted her head away from her reading to look at Zuko, a quirk of a smile at one side of her face.

"Answer the question, or I pin you," Mai said, her voice flat and her eyes focused.

Sighing dramatically, Azula lay the scroll down and eased back in the chair. "Isn't it obvious? I want to talk." In demonstration, she spread her hands open in a gesture of good will.

Zuko remained in his focused stance with the fire at the end of his knuckles seemingly eager to leap out and give Azula a love tap. Without turning his gaze to Mai, he said, "What do you think?"

Mai made a withering gaze for Azula's benefit. "She's been talking a lot lately. How are we supposed to know you aren't going to start burning down the room?"

"You don't," Azula said. "But I promise I'll be good for now. Royal Fire Academy for Girls' honor." She raised a mocking hand in salute.

Mai pushed air through her nose and returned to a standing position, hiding her knives away. "That's as close as you'll get to peace from her these days."

Zuko opened his palm, moving his flame there and snuffed it, easing the energy from his body. Moving fully into the room, he glared down impressively at his sister.

Mai smiled internally at the image he struck. Moments like these showed just how much of a true ruler Zuko was, for while Ozai demanded respect and power lest you get on his bad side, Zuko commanded it. When his confidence showed, you wanted to follow him to the ends of the world.

"One misstep in this conversation and I will not be as merciful as Katara, the waterbender who caught you," he said.

The words cut through Azula just as Mai's own had a few days before. Raw emotion stood on her face and to Mai's complete surprise, she demurred, turning her eyes from Zuko's gaze.

"It seems we've all been doing some growing," she murmured.

Zuko eased into the chair across from the desk, sitting upright, and looked at her hard. Mai moved to stand behind him, her gaze locked on Azula's every movement. "Now," he said. "What do you want?"

Azula bobbed her head in an overly exaggerated nod. "Always like you Zu-zu- right to the point. No subtlety. You should really learn some."

Her brother's expression remained unchanged.

Sighing, Azula stood up from the desk and ran her hand through her hair self-consciously. She stopped short as she seemed to realize she had lopped most of it off. Gaze in the distance, she said, "What do you think of my hair? Not a professional job, but I haven't had my usual access to palatial comforts."

Mai and Zuko remained silent, watching her.

"I had to use a rather blunt knife," Azula went on, ignoring her watcher's antagonism. "Maybe when all this is done I can request a proper grooming? My feet feel horrendous."

She turned then to really look at her brother and Zuko saw what Mai had been staring at for the past weeks. When he'd last seen her at their Agni Kai, Zuko could tell that her control was shot and that she was just shy of hysterics. Now, though, knowing Azula as he did, it was like even that loosened woman was a being entirely different from whoever stood in front of him.

Her eyes were hollow and chilling, an effect he knew she could create to terrorize an opponent, but now they lacked the determination and will she normally possessed. The effect was a distance within herself that Zuko understood perfectly. She had her whole reason taken from her and she was scrabbling in the dark of herself to find some purchase.

Sympathy finally started to bang around in Zuko's chest and his gaze ratcheted down from its sharp distrust.

Mai remained stoic, watching from his back.

Blinking slowly, Zuko spoke in a tone more generous than before. "You didn't come here for a beauty spa. What do you want?"

Wordlessly, Azula walked over to a standing scroll case where she picked at the edges of some paper. Mai watched as her head twitched slightly, her eyes darting. She recognized this run of tics from Azula's cell: the girl was having trouble with what she wanted to say. Before Zuko could lose his patience, Mai gave his shoulder a squeeze, effectively holding his tongue.

Long, awkward minutes passed and Azula tilted her head down slightly, fingers resting on the scroll just above her.

"I want to look for Mother."

Mai blinked, surprised that Azula could still surprise her.

"What?" Zuko's voice was too shocked to carry emotion.

"I… Want to look for Mother," Azula said again, bringing her head up to look slightly at Zuko and Mai. She had an eyebrow raised in question.

"Why would…" Mai couldn't find any other words.

Azula walked from the scrolls, playing her fingers along the wall, staying just out of arms reach of her audience. Her head was cocked almost at them, but her eyes were away and in their own place, watching the progress of her feet.

"I was Father's favorite. Let's not be liars now, eh, Zu-zu? No secret there." Her eyes roamed over to Zuko, but did not lock on him. She merely seemed to be using him to remember. "She… Loved you. She always did. Me, on the other hand…"

She stopped to lean against the wall while looking positively ancient. Her head hung, her shoulders slumped in an attempt to prop her upright, and her gaze was back on her feet.

"I lost to love. I did and so did Father and we had built such a world without it…" She ran a hand across her eyes and through her hair, perking up enough to look directly at Mai and Zuko. "When faced with a loss, you retreat to assess the problems and… _Fix_ them." She bit her lower lip, seeming to fight a smile that cast her gaze to the side.

Straightening, she said, "I am broken. Father would never love me, so I must seek the only other person who could."

Zuko furrowed his brow at his sister. Before he could speak, Mai squeezed his shoulder again. When his gaze went up, she was shaking her head slightly. Now wasn't the time to point out holes in Azula's thinking.

"Why involve me?" Zuko said instead, turning his gaze to his sister.

Her eyes rose to meet his, and he caught a glimmer of who she was rise to the surface and speak. "I must be the tracker, not the trackee. If I'm… Missed, I will spend more time making fools of your search parties than actually finding… Her. I am here to ask you to let me roam until I find her."

Arms crossed, Zuko said, "Are you crazy?"

Azula's head jerked forward to stare at her brother. Then, she laughed her horrid glass scraping glass laugh.

"Glad you think I'm funny," Zuko said bitterly.

"Oh, Zu-zu! You've come a long way!" She wiped a tear from her eye and sighed, letting her laughter die away. "But, you're right. _I_ am the outcast these days… So, my requests should be open. What do you recommend?"

Zuko angled his head at her. "Why should I believe you? What evidence could you possibly give me of your sincerity?"

Azula smirked and reached behind her. Mai and Zuko tensed. She produced a length of hair that was tied at both ends to maintain its shape. She tossed the lock at her brother, who let it land in his lap.

"What does giving me your hair prove exactly?" Zuko said picking the thing up and holding it out to her.

"That isn't my hair," Azula said leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "What did you do Azula?"

"Did you know Father cannot firebend anymore? I didn't. People will think scars run in the family now."

Zuko stared at the lock in his hand. "This…"

"His beard. He won't be shaving any time soon." The smile she gave was entirely without humor.

"Is he still alive?" Mai said.

Azula moved her attention, blinking, as if she'd forgotten all about Mai. "Technically. He had a pulse when I left his cell."

Zuko looked at the hair in his hand, then finally turned to his sister. "You want to find Mother."

Azula nodded.

"Did Father tell you… Anything?"

"Not very talkative." She inspected her nails and made a face at what she found. "But, he did give me a starting location at least."

"I can't let you go alone," he said, still holding the hair.

"Fair enough," she said, suddenly her old self. "But no large groups. If she's in hiding, then I need to be as maneuverable as when I sought the Avatar."

"I'm not giving you a group," Zuko said, laying against the chair.

Azula raised an eyebrow, and her head twitched slightly. "What? One person? Who do you think could keep up with me?"

"I can," Mai said.

Stepping past Zuko, she approached Azula, who cocked her head to the side, curious. "I can keep up with you, _and_ if you screw up, I can take you down."

"Really?" Azula said drolly, setting her head back on her neck. "Would that work for you Zu-zu?"

Neither girl looked at Zuko, their gazes trained on each other. Azula did not see his expression and Mai could not watch the grim line his mouth formed.

"Mai's been taking care of you the longest. It makes sense to me." His voice held more than a little gravel.

"Excellent!" Azula said. "Then if you'll alert the palace attendants-"

"No," Zuko said.

Azula blinked.

"You will be staying in the visiting messenger's quarters. I'll send a maid to get you passable for a regular person, but beyond that- you're nobody." Zuko stood up, finally getting Azula's attention. "Mai will handle your expenses during your travel."

Mai smirked.

Zuko went to the door and propped it open with an arm. "You want to find Mother? Fine, I'll give you that much. But if you want to prove you're really looking for something other than revenge, you have to prove it to me. I'll send a servant to guide you to quarters. If they don't find you here in the next ten minutes, the deal's off and I will hunt you myself."

Azula and Zuko locked eyes.

"And you know how good I am at hunting. Mai? Coming?"

Mai sighed, giving Azula a bland look, then turned to leave the offered door. Waving her hand, she said, "See you tomorrow."

Zuko gave Azula another hard look and left, leaving the door to click behind him.

In the corridor, once they were a respectable distance from the office, he gripped Mai's arm. "Why did you do that? I was going to put one of the elite guard on her."

Mai twisted free of the grip and shot Zuko a look. "Because she'd shrug that guard off and then you'd be really stressed out. Get it through your head, Zuko. I'm the only one who doesn't get weirded out by her. She can't trick me or play me or anything like that. I'm your best bet at keeping her in line."

Zuko pushed air through his nose, fire sparking at the end. "I know. I know," he said, raising his palms in defense. "We've been through this, I know, but every time you volunteer, I get worried again." He reached out to cradle her face in a hand.

"Deal with it Mr. Big Shot Fire Lord," Mai replied, laying her own hand on the good side of his face. "You have a crazy sister and your girlfriend is the only one who can keep her from going crazy on everyone else."

A bitter smile crossed his face. "My family really stinks, you know?"

"I do. Glad you came out okay though."

She leaned in and they kissed, holding each other's tension at bay. When they released, Zuko smiled a little, nodded and started walking into a corridor where he could flag down some help. They were going to have quite a night ahead.

In the morning, Mai stood with a traveling sack in the front hall of the Fire Nation Palace. Zuko was next to her, frowning.

"You don't even _like_ roughing it," he said. "Trust me, there's plenty of that out where you're going."

Rolling her eyes, Mai said, "I _know_. You think I'm thrilled at the idea of sleeping under the stars?"

"I'm impressed Zu-zu," said Azula, stepping into the light from down the corridor. "Even _I_ could never get her to do such things."

The maid Zuko had sent to tend to Azula had never met her, so was completely unfazed by the former princess, chalking up most of her abnormalities to head injury along the messenger's trails. She had sorted Azula's hair into a state that could be managed even by the crazed woman and provided an outfit that fit her better than the stolen sentry's uniforms. Now, she looked like an average Fire Nation citizen with close-cropped dark hair, burgundy robe cinched with a blood red sash over a long-sleeved red shirt and brown breeches that led to comfortable boots.

Mai stared a bit. She had never seen Azula look so… Average.

Stepping up to the pair, Azula scrutinized Mai, ruining the average effect with eyes that didn't quite look at someone so much as _through_ them. "You really… Love him," she said after a minute of inspection.

"We established that, yeah," Mai said, hitching her bag up.

Azula shrugged, but was obviously giving the idea a great deal of consideration.

"I've had three ostrich-horses prepared for you," Zuko said to both of them. "Take care of them and they'll get you from here to the North Pole tribes and back."

He turned to Mai. "You have everything you should need for getting through checkpoints. If anything comes up, get to a messenger hawk and I'll do what I can."

Mai nodded. "Take care of yourself," she said.

"Hey. The same goes for you too," Zuko said with a resigned sigh.

They stepped into each other and kissed. When they had run down their strength there, they just held one another.

"I love you," Zuko whispered hotly into Mai's ear.

"I love you too," Mai replied in kind.

Throughout Azula watched, looking like an anthropologist working out a new custom, or a scientist naming a new species. Mai and Zuko ignored her, finishing on their own time.

When they released to hold each other only by a hand, Zuko said, "Come back to me safe, okay?"

A smile quirked on one side of Mai's face. "Will do," she said, a touch hoarse, and squeezed his hand.

Azula looked between the two, a slight crease to her brow. Zuko let go of Mai and turned to her, his face hardening in the process. Still, some kind of softness was in his gaze.

"For what it's worth," he said. "I hope you're sincere this time. And I hope you can bring our mother home."

"Well, Zuko," she said, her eyebrow twitching slightly. "For what it's worth, I hope I don't just come home and kill you."

The two looked at each other.

"Let's go," Mai said, putting a hand on Azula's arm.

The other girl shrugged free of the touch and pushed out the large doors to go lightly down the steps.

Mai and Zuko watched her.

"Please take care of yourself," Zuko said.

Mai reached out and pulled him close to her, stealing one last kiss. "Hey. It'll keep me from dying of boredom, right?"

Pulling away from him, she swept down the steps to Azula, who waited astride her ostrich-horse.

"Come along, Mai! We've a long journey!" she called.

"Yeah, yeah," Mai muttered, slinging her travel sack into her mount's packs. With a swipe, she hitched the pack ostrich-horse to her own and sidled up to Azula's side. "Don't get out of sight," she ordered.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Azula said. She clicked her tongue and urged the ostrich-horse into a smooth gallop.

Mai watched her for a moment then urged her own mount into a near chase.

From the palace, Zuko watched the pair part the palace gates, then disappear into the crowds of the Fire Nation. He closed his eyes and savored the taste of Mai on his lips, then opened them and went back inside the palace. His country needed him, after all.


End file.
